


The Art of Transfiguration

by Sexidebater



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:27:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23128534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sexidebater/pseuds/Sexidebater
Summary: Daphne is struggling in Transfiguration, leave it to Hermione Granger to swoop in and save the day.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 18
Collections: Transfiguration: 2020 Round One





	The Art of Transfiguration

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [DBQ2020Round1](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/DBQ2020Round1) collection. 



> "Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me but are the property of J.K.R. and Warner Bros. No copyright infringement is intended. The theme for this round of the competition was Transfiguration and my chosen pairing was Daphne Greengrass/Hermione Granger.Comments/Reviews are encouraged by The Slytherin Cabal's Admin Team on all stories in Death By Quill, but comments left by readers are set to be moderated by story authors until the end of the competition in order to protect participants' anonymity. Thank you to my beta for their time and help."

“Bugger!” Daphne Greengrass swore.  
Hermione looked up from her book and saw Daphne sitting at the table across from her, facing her.  
Daphne was promptly shushed by Madam Pince.  
“Sorry,” Daphne said quietly, blushing.  
Daphne returned to staring blankly at the parchment in front of her, and then she sniffled.  
Hermione inwardly groaned and placed her book on the table. Curse her good heart, Hermione thought as she stood and walked over to Daphne, pulling out the chair across from Daphne and sitting down.  
Daphne looked up and surprise crossed her face as a single tear slid down her cheek. Her defenses instantly went up.  
“What?” Daphne said, holding back her tears as she sniffled again. She mustn’t show emotion, Daphne thought to herself.  
Hermione sighed, “What are you struggling with? I MIGHT be able to help.”  
“Why would you do that?”  
“Because, at the end of the day, I’m a decent witch.” Hermione said cautiously.  
Daphne sighed as she raised both hands and used her ring fingers to wipe under her eyes. “Transfiguration. I don’t get it. At all.”  
Hermione nodded, “Yes, it can be hard. What about it are you struggling with?”  
“Everything. It’s always been the hardest subject for me. I can’t get a grasp on it, and with the next exam coming up, I’m freaking out. I can’t fail this one. My parents will both be disappointed and probably punish me over break. I’m afraid of what they’ll do. I need an Acceptable.” Daphne said quietly, staring at the shelf behind Hermione.  
“Do you want help?” Hermione asked.  
Daphne nodded.  
“Transfiguration is my second favorite subject, right after Ancient Runes.” Hermione said matter of factly. “Do you want me to help you?”  
Daphne sniffled and nodded again. “Please.”  
Hermione forced a smile, “I am currently working on my Charms essay, but I can start helping you tomorrow after dinner. Does that sound okay?”  
Daphne nodded again, “Yes. I will meet you here after dinner.”  
“Good.” Hermione replied, standing and turning to return to her own table.”  
“Hey, Granger,” Daphne said quietly.  
“Yes?” Hermione replied, turning her head to look at Daphne.  
“I know it’s pre-emptive, because I don’t know how this will go, but I appreciate it all the same. You don’t have to do this, especially since we’re supposed to be sworn enemies.”  
“Hogwarts infighting between houses is stupid. I’m not looking for more friends, and I do not pity you. I know that everyone needs help every now and then. You’re still a witch like me, and I will help you.”  
Daphne nodded and gave a watery smile. “Thank you.”  
Hermione nodded sharply and returned to her table, where she stared at her parchment for a few minutes, her mind mulling over what she was about to do; sure, she believed that infighting was stupid, yet Daphne was close to her longtime bully, Malfoy. But Daphne needed help, and who would Hermione be if she wasn’t to offer a helping hand to someone struggling.  
Hermione shook her head to chase out the thoughts and focused on her essay. She was determined to keep her streak of O’s in Charms class.

The next day went by quickly. Hermione finished her dinner quickly and left the hall early so she could arrive at the library before Daphne. Her bag was heavy with all of her Transfiguration books. Hermione was a hoarder when it came to books, especially old textbooks because she never knew when she would need to reference back to one.  
She also brought a couple of helpful books from her personal collection. She picked out the books that explained the basic principles of Transfiguration. If Daphne was truly struggling to grasp everything, then they would have to start at the very beginning. Which was truly disappointing because that meant that Daphne had been struggling for five years with the subject.  
Hermione claimed a table in the back of the library, hidden in a nook near the restricted section so that she and Daphne would have privacy from prying eyes. Just because Hermione hated house fighting didn’t mean that she wanted the entire world to know that she was helping a Slytherin. If Harry and Ron found out, they would have kittens.  
Daphne arrived at the library a few minutes later, her eyes scanning the tables. It could take awhile to find Hermione in the vast room, so Daphne approached Madam Pince at the desk.  
“Excuse me ma’am,” Daphne said quietly.  
Madam Pince looked up from her book, peering over her reading glasses, “Yes?”  
“Hermione Granger is tutoring me, and with the library being so big, I was hoping you knew where she went.” Daphne asked quietly.  
Madam Pince raised an eyebrow, “She’s usually towards the back, by the restricted section. I would check there first. She likes her privacy while studying.”  
Daphne forced a smile, “Thank you ma’am.”  
Daphne made her way towards the restricted section and found Hermione’s nook.  
“Hi,” Daphne softly said as she pulled out the chair across from Hermione and sat, placing her bag in the chair next to her.  
Hermione looked up from her notes, “Hello.”  
Daphne pulled out some parchment, her quill, and her textbook.  
“You won’t be needing that textbook today. We’re going to start at the beginning and review some of the basic principles first.” Hermione said.  
Daphne put her textbook back in the bag.  
Hermione slid a piece of parchment across the table to Daphne, “I made a timeline on what we’re going to be going over during the next few weeks. I figured that we could meet a couple times a week to study together. Transfiguration is a complex and hard subject. It can be dangerous if conducted improperly. So we’re going to go back to the very basic principles and go over theory. I’ve already privately spoken to Professor McGonagall. She said it was okay to use her classroom to practice the application of Transfiguration.”  
Daphne reviewed the timeline. It was well organized by week. She wasn’t surprised, Hermione was highly organized.  
“Looks good.” Daphne replied, pushing it back to Hermione.  
“That is actually for you to keep, that way you can remember what we’re going to be studying each time, prepare a bit before our time together, and remember what to go over by yourself.”  
Daphne nodded and rolled the parchment, putting it safely in her bag.  
Hermione picked up “A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration,” the textbook that they had used during first year, and handed it to Daphne.  
“We’re going to start with this, like I said, at the beginning. You can borrow this so you can study on your own. Just give it back when we’re done.” Hermione instructed.  
Daphne nodded, “So what page are we starting on?”  
“The first page.”  
Daphne opened the book to the first page and stared at it before looking up at Hermione for instruction.  
Hermione sighed, “So, I actually have most of the book memorized. Transfiguration is magic that focuses on altering the molecular structure of an object, changing the form or appearance of said object. Do you know the definition of molecular?”  
Daphne shook her head no.  
“Molecular is a muggle scientific term, it means a formation of molecules, which are a group of atoms bonded together, representing the smallest fundamental unit of a chemical compound that can take part in a chemical reaction. An atom is the basic unit of a chemical element. And chemicals make up everything. Everything is some form of a chemical bond.”  
“What’s a chemical? I sense it’s another muggle term.”  
“It is a substance that consists of elements. Elements are the basic structure of everything. They make up the world. Examples are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and much more. Chemicals are what potions basically are if we were to use muggle terms. Of course, creating potions is a lot different than creating a chemical compound. Mainly because we use solid items to brew into the potion as opposed to mainly liquids. We also use magic to help with the creation. There is a lot of science behind magic, most witches and wizards just don’t realize it.” Hermione said factually.  
Daphne was already lost but nodded. She picked up her quill. “Can you repeat that so I can take notes?”  
Hermione gave a small smile, “Of course.”  
She repeated herself as Daphne took short notes. When she was finished speaking, Daphne looked up and pushed the parchment across the table.  
“I took both some notes and wrote down some questions. Can you answer them on the parchment so I can remember the answers?”  
Hermione took a few minutes to read over Daphne’s questions and wrote down answers in her neat penmanship.  
She passed the paper back to Daphne and Daphne poured over it, tapping the feather of her quill against her face. When she finished reading it, she looked up at Hermione, “Thank you. This is very helpful and I THINK I’m starting to understand things better. I just wish I had a muggle dictionary.”  
Hermione chuckled as she reached into her bag and pulled out a small book, handing it over to Daphne.  
The title read, “Oxford Dictionary.”  
“They update the dictionary every year as new words are created, so this is last year’s edition. It’s filled with muggle terms if you ever need to look something up.” Hermione said.  
Daphne let out a sigh of relief, “Thank Merlin. I sense you’re going to use a lot of muggle terms, without meaning to, and I’m going to struggle to keep up.”  
“I’ll try to remember to use wizarding terms, unless the term doesn’t exist. I’m exhausted by how the wizarding world avoids muggle advancements and technology like the plague. For instance, we have things called pens. They have ink inside of them so we don’t have to carry around a pot of ink and dip our quills. And don’t even get me started on parchment versus paper. Once I graduate and start working at the ministry, I’m going to work on integrating muggle things into the wizarding world, even if I have to drag our world kicking and screaming into the future. They’ll thank me later.”  
Daphne gave a sad smile, “You know that may be a pipe dream.”  
Hermione knew what she was talking about, but pretended that she didn’t. “What do you mean?”  
“The Dark Lord rose again. He’s going to come to power. War is imminent. I expect your Wonder Boy Potter to do something about it, but I just don’t know if he’ll be enough. We’ll have to wait and see.”  
Hermione sighed and kept her gaze on Daphne, “That’s the truth. While Harry is a bit dim with some things, he is smart, and I will be with him every step of the way. I have a question for you, maybe you know the answer, maybe you don’t, but why is Voldemort still in hiding?”  
Daphne winced at the Dark Lord’s true name, but answered the question, “Because he’s plotting and planning. I don’t know his plan, even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you, but he’s waiting to make his next move.”  
“How do you know that?”  
“My family is pureblood. I know a lot of things because I overhear them. They try to hide everything from me, but they talk loudly.”  
Hermione nodded, “Thank you. I won’t pry anymore. If you ever want to tell me something, then tell me. But I’m not here on a mission to learn more about Voldemort. I’m here to make sure that you don’t fail Transfiguration. Speaking of which, let’s get back to it. Pass me back the book, I’ll read it to you and you can take notes as I read. Sometimes that’s more helpful than reading it yourself and taking notes because it forces you to break your concentration.”  
Daphne passed the book back, prepared a fresh piece of parchment, and dipped her quill in the pot. She looked up at Hermione expectantly.  
Hermione cleared her throat and began reading to her.  
After an hour of reading aloud, with Daphne scribbling notes on the parchment, Hermione’s throat began to get sore from talking so much, so she stopped at the end of the third chapter.  
“Do you have any questions?” Hermione asked as she closed the book.  
Daphne nodded, “Yes, I wrote them down.” Daphne passed the parchment to Hermione, who poured over the questions and wrote down answers to them.  
She passed it back a few minutes later.  
“How did that method of tutoring work? We can try another method next time if needed.”  
“No,” Daphne said, “It worked amazingly. I was able to get the material in real time and write down the notes instead of constantly looking away from the books. Next time can you show me your note taking method? I bet that you take great notes, and I’d like to learn your method.”  
“Sure, I use what’s called ‘The Cornell Method.’ I’ll show you next time, it’s a little complex, but once you get used to it, it’s wonderful. I go about lecture notes differently, it’s an adjusted Cornell Method, but it works REALLY well for me. I think it’ll work well for you too.”  
Daphne gave a genuine smile, “Thank you. Right now my notes are just scribbles of random sentences and words. It’s not very organized. I think organization will really help. In fact, thank you for all of this.”  
“It’s not a big deal. Like I said earlier, I don’t want you to fail.”  
Daphne nodded, “Okay. Well, I think it’s time to call it a night. I’ve got a lot to go over tonight.”  
“I guess you do. When do you want to meet next?”  
“How about in two days, on Thursday, after dinner again. If it works for you, we could meet every two days. Only if it works for you of course.”  
“It does. I can always make it work. We can meet for about an hour, hour and half each time, that way it’s not too time constraining on each of us. We both still have other classes to work on.”  
“Perfect. I will see you Thursday.” Daphne said as she packed her bag and stood.  
“Bye Daphne,” Hermione said, not looking up as she pulled her potions homework from her bag.  
“Bye Hermione.” Daphne replied.  
It had only been a day, and they were already on first name basis.

Daphne was in the common room going over the notes she had taken and comparing them to the sections in the book that she was reading when Malfoy approached her.  
“Studying hard, now are we?” Draco sneered as he snatched the book off the desk, looking at the cover. He chuckled, “Why are you reading the first book? You’re a fifth year. I thought you were past this?”  
Daphne blushed, “I got a tutor. She’s having me start at the beginning because I genuinely do not understand Transfiguration Malfoy. Please, don’t tease me on this.”  
Draco rolled his eyes and returned her book, stalking away.

The next two weeks went by quickly, Hermione and Daphne meeting every other day in the library.  
Slowly but surely, Daphne began to grasp the concepts and theory of Transfiguration.  
Hermione determined that she was ready to begin practicing application. They started small with a snail into a teapot.  
“Remember,” Hermione said, “form a clear picture in your mind of what you want the snail to become. And it is important to make firm and decisive wand movements. Don’t wiggle or twirl your wand unnecessarily.”  
Daphne tried again, this being her fifth time. She focused on the image of a teapot with pink flowers on it, then said the spell and flicked her wand firmly at the snail.  
This time, it worked. The snail morphed into a teapot with pink flowers.  
Daphne shrieked in delight and rushed Hermione to hug her.  
“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Daphne said, engulfing Hermione.  
Hermione awkwardly hugged her back. Daphne thankfully released her a few seconds later, and squealed.  
Hermione smirked, “Now, change it back.”  
Daphne’s face fell, but was quickly replaced with a look of determination.  
And that determination led to her accomplishing the transfiguration of the teapot back into a snail on the first try.

They gradually worked their way up the chain of harder things to transform. Sometimes it took a few sessions for Daphne to master the transformation, but she would eventually get it. And right before the exam, Daphne turned an owl into opera glasses and back to its original form on the first try.  
She was finally caught up with the rest of the class.  
All thanks to Hermione Granger.  
“You’re going to do great on the exam.” Hermione smiled.  
“Thank you.”

It took a few days to get exam results. When McGonagall began to pass back results, Daphne’s leg started to bounce as she sat in her chair.  
Finally, McGonagall gave her exam paper with both her written exam and application grades on it.  
E.  
On both parts.  
Daphne had to hold back her scream of delight.  
At dinner, Daphne ran to the Gryffindor table, shrieking Hermione’s name.  
Hermione looked up as Daphne proudly handed her the exam.  
Hermione looked at the top and saw the E. Hermione shrieked in delight and stood to give Daphne a hug.  
“Congratulations!” Hermione said as she released Daphne.  
“I couldn’t have done this without you.”  
“I know.” Hermione laughed.  
The great hall was silent as they watched the friendly interaction of a Gryffindor and Slytherin. They were ignored by the two girls.

Thus began a short friendship between them. They continued to meet every other day to go over their recent lesson, notes, homework, etc. On occasion, they hung out outside of the library.  
They knew that these days of friendship were short.  
They knew that the inevitable war would tear them apart.  
They were right.


End file.
